Portrait Photography - Day 2

Don't laugh, this is my contribution to the workshop today. :)

I just couldn't get my head around the assignment today to walk up to people on the street and ask them for a portrait, which would necessitate some build up and interest on my part to be effective. I just wasn't having it...

To be fair, I came up with a solo assignment at the last minute. I walked over to the Santo Stefano Maggiore Church as I remembered that on Sundays it's possible to find a Latin American group outside the church in a small park cooking and selling local cuisine to their compatriots.  I walked into the church to see the mass and was surprised to find the Sunday service being conducted in Spanish for an entire congregation of Latin Americans.  wow.  I don't speak Spanish, but can hold on to a few words being not so far off from Italian. There were some other tourists who came and went, but I stuck around for the entire service and felt something of an outsider being mostly taller than everyone else (I'm not that tall...) and blue-gray eyes. I think there were quite a few Peruvians and Ecuador if I am any judge of ancestry. It was very curious to be in Italy and partake in a larger expat community and in the Catholic church. I stepped out about half way through thinking to talk to some of the people who had remained outside to prepare the food and was surprised again to find another large expat community just out the door. This time Indian and they were having a Sunday service at a small chapel just to the side. Somehow in all this, either I lost my nerve or I didn't feel in the right place to talk to anyone - and didn't get any portrait photos for my class... The people were super friendly, but somehow I didn't feel right.  Could be interesting to go back another time and try again.

To cut a long story short, I did make a pretty good reportage of the church service and quite a few street shots walking around afterwards killing time.  Just before heading back into the classroom, I spotted this friendly hooch and took his portrait. :)